It’s my 30th birthday today, and yesterday my husband took me to Heston’s restaurant in London, Dinner By Heston! It’s located in an extremely posh hotel – but that was fine by me, because I was wearing my extremely posh outfit, so I felt more than prepared to meet the challenge! Heston actually says there should be no dress code to enjoy his food – which is a nice sentiment, but generally it feels good to wear something that feels appropriate to the price tag, which in this case was fairly astronomical. 

The dining room is fairly cozy and not too intimidating – you can see right into the kitchen, which is a great touch! You can even see the pineapples for one of the puddings turning on a spit (although, not really in this photo. Clever me). 

In this pretty awful photo you can see that the lights are actually formed of jelly moulds, which is another neat nod to the culinary arts. The dark wood floors, leather chairs and panelled walls create a very masculine atmosphere, like an old boys’ club or something, which suited the very traditional and ‘meaty’ menu on offer. Before you start, though, you’re given some exceptionally crusty bread to nibble on!

Delicious – I sometimes reckon all I’d need for a great meal would be a loaf of good bread and some butter – but of course, I always find a way of complicating even that, ha… This is the sort of menu on offer. Sounds intriguing, no? 

This is what the Mr. had – Rice and Flesh – and very delicious it was too! Although, very filling, because he really couldn’t eat much else after this! 

This was mine: Salamugundy. Very tender and subtle, and not too filling. This part was important, because… This was our main! A giant steak served with chips! Very delicious – I am a huge carnivore, so I was pretty pleased. I’d already tried the triple cooked chips at The Hind’s Head, and these weren’t really much different – crispy and moreish. The sauces were great, although the mushroom ketchup was served cold (as I expected), but in a small saucepan…?

Here’s a better look at that meaty bone! Droooool. I have to say, though, the meal ended on a bit of a downer for me. I picked the Brown Bread Ice-Cream, as I’ve had that before at home and really liked it. The malted yeast syrup totally spoiled the dish for me, though, and I saw someone else eating the same thing making similar faces…

It looked pretty enough, though! There was also a pretty little chocolate pudding to finish off with.

I definitely enjoyed my trip to Dinner, and the food was amazing. If you’re a fan of Heston, you’ll definitely enjoy eating at his latest restaurant. I’m going to be a bit controversial here, though, and say that if you’re not going for the set menu, you can definitely get the same quality food elsewhere for the same or lower prices. That said, the set menu is a bit of a bargain, at £36 a head for weekday lunches. However, there are only two choices for each course, which you might find limiting…

The one remaining Heston restaurant I’d like to visit is, of course, The Fat Duck. However, I’m fairly sure this is off the menu (ha) until we win on the scratchcards or something… I guess I’d have to buy some first though!